About Creators Chambers
Creation in context
Creators Chambers is an independent platform dedicated to contemporary artistic practice, founded by Hélène Mulder in 2021. It grew from her work developing digital presentations for artists and creative professionals. In the process, conversations with artists often moved beyond the finished work to the ideas, experiences and processes behind it. Those exchanges revealed a part of their practice that portfolios rarely show.
Creators Chambers gives that context its own space. The focus is not only on what an artist has made, but also on the questions, fascinations and experiments that shape a practice over time.
JonCha, Calvisson (left), Merijn Kavelaars, Waalre (middle) and Kosi Hidama, Brussels (right)
A portrait takes shape through encounter
Each portrait begins with research into the artist and their work, followed by a meeting in the place where they work. The conversation is recorded as it unfolds. What the artist chooses to share, and what becomes significant during the meeting, informs the photography and film.
These elements come together in an online portrait. Conversation gives space to the artist’s thoughts and experiences; photography attends to materials, places and details; film can convey movement, voice, sound and presence. The form responds to the particular practice being documented.
The portrait is Hélène’s interpretation of that encounter, made with care for the artist’s perspective and the context of their work. It is documentary in its attention to real people, places and practices, and artistic in the choices involved in observing, selecting and bringing the material together.
A growing, shared collection
Creators Chambers has published portraits of artists and makers working across different disciplines and locations. Each portrait stands on its own, while the collection brings different practices and ways of working into one independent, freely accessible platform.
For artists, a portrait offers considered documentation of the ideas, processes and circumstances behind their work, as well as a film they can share through their own channels. For audiences, it offers a personal way into contemporary art. For cultural organisations and educators, the portraits can serve as an accessible resource for introducing artistic practices and connecting audiences with the people behind the work.
The collection is intended to grow over time. As more portraits are added, they can be encountered in relation to one another, opening up connections across practices and possibilities for future presentations, research and exchange.
Collaborations
Creators Chambers welcomes conversations with artists and makers, as well as museums, galleries, curators, educational programmes and cultural organisations. Collaborations might involve creating a portrait, sharing the publications with new audiences, or exploring how the growing collection could be presented in another context.
The aim is to deepen understanding of artistic practice by sharing the questions, processes and contexts that shape the work, and to create meaningful connections between makers, audiences and the cultural field.
For a collaboration or enquiry, please get in touch.
Creators Chambers is an initiative by Hélène Mulder, an independent maker based in Antwerp.
Eleanor Herbosch, Antwerp